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| Top Stories for March 31, 2000 (details below) | |
| San Jose Mercury News |
Ex-Intel engineer indicted He is charged with stealing chip giant's secrets |
| Electronic Buyers' News | S3 in talks to sell chip business to Via Technologies, sources say |
| The Register Files | |
| The Register | Bitter war breaks out inside Intel |
| The Register | Intel hits more probs with memory translator hub |
| The Register | Via goes for dual processor jugular |
| The Register | Hitachi's antitrust case against Rambus |
| Microprocessor
Headline News Collected By Robert R. Collins |
Week of March 26, 2000 |
Older News |
| March 31, 2000 | ||
Ex-Intel engineer indicted
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Invoking a 4-year-old federal trade secrets theft law for the first time in Silicon Valley, federal prosecutors this week charged a former Intel Corp. engineer with stealing documents and computer files related to a powerful new microprocessor expected to be released sometime this summer.
A federal grand jury in San Jose handed up an indictment Wednesday against Say Lye Ow, a 29-year-old Malaysian national accused of making off with the Intel secrets before he left the company in 1998. Ow is charged with violating the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, which made trade secrets theft a specific federal crime. |
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S3 in talks to sell chip business to Via Technologies, sources sayBy Mark Hachman March 30, 2000 |
Following its disclosure earlier this week that it's considering a spin-off of its chip operations, graphics-chip maker S3 Inc. has engaged in negotiations with Via Technologies Inc., according to sources close to the talks.
Although no agreement has been reached, the companies close working relationship was said to have spurred the initial contact. |
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| March 30, 2000 | ||
Intel launches Celerons with SIMD instruction-set extensionsBy Mark Hachman March 29, 2000 |
Intel Corp. today introduced its 566- and 600-MHz Celeron microprocessors, setting the stage for a battle with Advanced Micro Devices Inc. for the low-end PC market.
Intel's new Celerons are the first MPUs to use the streaming SIMD instruction-set extensions, the company said last week. To make the manufacturing process simpler, Intel will produce the 0.18-micron processors with 256 Kbytes of on-chip cache, but disable half the memory to keep the chip compatible with the standard features of the Celeron product line. |
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Intel's new chips target high end of budget classBy Michael Kanellos March 29, 2000 |
Intel introduced two new Celeron processors for budget computers today that will kick off another cycle of competition in the consumer PC market.
As expected, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker unveiled two new Celeron processors running at 566 MHz and 600 MHz. While faster than current Celerons, the two new chips also contain the multimedia enhancements found thus far only in the Pentium III line, according to Jeff McCrea, director of marketing for desktop processors at Intel. The chips are in fact identical in many respects to the more expensive Pentium III and are manufactured on the same wafers, he said. |
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Intel unveils Celeron processors based On 0.18-micron technologyMarch 29, 2000 |
Intel Corp. today introduced new Celeron processorsmanufactured on the company's advanced 0.18-micron technology, which enablesgreater speeds, higher-volume manufacturing and lower overall production costs.
The new Intel Celeron processors, at 600 and 566 MHz, are Intel's fastest processors for sub-$1,000 PCs. |
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S3 in discussions regarding possible sale of graphics-chip businessMarch 29, 2000 |
Santa Clara, Calif. -- S3 Inc. here announced today that it is in discussions with several companies regarding the sale or spin-off of itsgraphics-chip business, and has received term sheets from several of the companies.
S3 stated that it is assessing all opportunities and is committed to choosing a path that will take into account the interests of its stockholders, customers, and employees. |
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The Register Files |
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Bitter war breaks out inside IntelBy Mike Magee March 29, 2000 |
The motherboard and server division at Intel is at loggerheads with the chipset division, a source inside the 70,000-employee company has revealed.
That has led to a mass of mobos that will be released during the course of this year and next, many of which will not use Intel chipset technology. The source, who works within OPSD (the OEM platform solutions division), told The Register today that staff are "truly disgusted" with the response Intel's chipset division has given it. |
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Intel hits more probs with memory translator hubBy Mike Magee March 29, 2000 |
The CC820 (Cape Cod) motherboard has been placed on hold until Intel fixes the memory hub translator
(MHT), which has caused performance degradation, The Register has learned.
According to a source inside the company, all shipments have now been halted until Intel's chipset division comes up with a more reliable MHT. As noted here earlier, Intel is discussing i820 chipset modifications so that Rambus and PC-133 memories will be supported on the same motherboard, but there are some technical difficulties preventing a rapid implementation of the plans. |
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Via goes for dual processor jugularBy Mike Magee March 30, 2000 |
The dual processor market will receive a boost today from third party chipset manufacturer Via, which has announced support for dual processors for the Pentium III and Pentium II platform.
The Apollo Pro 133A will support up to four gigabytes of PC-133 memory, Via said, with the chipset aimed at the workstation and server segment of the market. |
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Hitachi's antitrust case against RambusBy Mike Magee March 29, 2000 |
The Register has now seen a copy of Hitachi's deposition to a US court, countering a Rambus case and at the same time detailing its arguments that the firm is engaging in alleged antitrust activities.
The civil action was placed before Judge Gregory Sleet and numbered 00-029 in a Delaware District Court at the end of last week. |
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| March 29, 2000 | ||
AMD aims at Intel with 'Spitfire'By John G. Spooner and Ken Popovich March 27, 2000 |
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. will soon fire up the engine on its Spitfire chip in a move sure to spark yet another performance battle with rival Intel Corp.
AMD is cooking up the new Spitfire processor, code-named after the sports car, with the aim of out-powering Intel Corp.'s Celeron chip in the value PC space -- generally defined as PCs costing less than $1,000. |
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Trident, Acer aim integrated graphics/chip set device at notebooksBy Will Wade March 27, 2000 |
Trident Microsystems Inc. and Acer Laboratories Inc. have teamed up to deliver the CyberBlade Aladdin i1, which they call the first integrated graphics and chip set component aimed at Slot 1- and Socket 370-based notebook computers.
The part will be fabbed at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., and Acer (Taipei, Taiwan) will be responsible for the foundry arrangements. Trident and Acer will market and service the part jointly and will share the revenue. |
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The Register Files |
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Rambus faces antitrust accusationsBy Mike Magee March 27, 2000 |
Memory technology company Rambus received a blow to its plans Friday when Hitachi, which faces legal and US government action for alleged infringement of patents, fought back by invoking US antitrust legislation under the umbrella of the Sherman Act.
Last week, Rambus stepped up its claims that Hitachi, a large manufacturer of semiconductor memories, was violating its patents by asking federal body the International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban imports of DRAMs which allegedly used one of its patents. At the same time, Rambus extended its legal attack by filing suit against console maker Sega. |
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Muddle erupts over dual CPU Intel platformBy Mike Magee March 27, 2000 |
Confusion and uncertainty from Intel on support for dual-processor configurations for its latest flip chip (FC-PGA) packaging for Pentium IIIs is causing users across the world to suffer from CPU Angst.
Posts on the Intel support forum underline the muddle, as the chip company makes a move from the previous slotted SECC2 packaging to a plug-in Socket 370 configuration. |
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Intel claims it's licked dual CPU problemBy Mike Magee March 28, 2000 |
Intel has moved quite a way to dispel confusion over dual processing systems using its flip chip (FC-PGA) Pentium IIIs by releasing specifications for them using the i840 (Carmel) chip set. It has also rectified conflicting messages on its Web site.
The firm recently posted a PDF file on its download site, which you can find here. This is a very large document which relates to making dual systems using the FC-PGA packaging work with the i840 chipset. |
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Intel 700MHz mobile part will cause tearsBy Mike Magee March 28, 2000 |
The notebook manufacturers Intel considers to be tier one PC companies will receive supplies of a 700MHz Pentium III notebook processor shortly, with other firms in the food chain queuing up in the chip equivalent of a soup kitchen.
Intel told PC vendors, system builders, distributors and dealers that a 700MHz Pentium III notebook chip was to be introduced yesterday, but now we understand from reliable sources that tier one firms are going to get first bite of the mobile cherry. |
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| March 27, 2000 | ||
Rambus seeks ban on Dreamcast importsBy Bloomberg News March 24, 2000 |
Rambus, a licenser of technology that lets microchips work faster, asked U.S. trade authorities to order a halt to imports of Sega Enterprises' video game console, which it says infringes on its patents.
Mountain View, Calif.-based Rambus alleged in its request to the U.S. International Trade Commission that microprocessors used in Sega's Dreamcast and made by Hitachi violate its patents. The complaint also seeks an injunction against further distribution of some memory and microprocessor products made by Hitachi that Rambus says breach its patents. |
See Today's Related Stories |
Via says employee departures won't affect CPU business spin offBy Macabe Keliher and Mark Hachman March 24, 2000 |
Via Technologies Inc. said its plan to spin off its CPU business into a separate company will not be complicated by the recent departure of employees for greener pastures.
Executives at the Taiwanese IC maker confirmed that nine employees out of about 50 have left Via's Richardson, Texas, CPU design subsidiary, Via-Cyrix Inc., in the past week. Those who have left the company include Steve McMahan, director of engineering for the Cyrix processor architecture. Stan Swearingen, the subsidiary's former general manager, left the company a few months ago, executives said. Several left to join Navarro Networks, a communications startup, according to published reports. |
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Intel Case Holds Lessons For MicrosoftBy Mary Mosquera March 24, 2000 |
Microsoft and the U.S. Justice Department could take a lesson from the government's antitrust case against Intel in how personal relationships can foster settlement, attorneys involved in that case say.
The mutual respect demonstrated by chip maker Intel (stock: INTC) and the Federal Trade Commission encouraged settlement, said William Baer, the lead government attorney in forging the settlement in March 1999, and now a partner at Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C. Baer was director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition at the time. |
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Intel plans new package architecture for next-generation processorsBy Jack Robertson March 26, 2000 |
Intel Corp. plans to introduce its 64-bit Itanium microprocessor this year in a
multichip-module package-and move to a radically new package for next-generation Willamette, Foster, and McKinley processors, according to industry sources.
It won't be the first time Intel has adopted an MCM for its processors, which entails mounting various bare die inside a package substrate. Intel's Pentium Pro used an MCM until it was succeeded by the monolithic Pentium II processor, which together with the Pentium III and Celeron now ship in flip-chip plastic ball-grid-array (FC-PBGA) packages. |
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Ruiz gets $1.5M assurance from AMDBy Robert Ristelhueber March 24, 2000 |
Hector Ruiz has been promised at least $1.5 million by Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in the event he is not elected to replace W.J. Sanders III as chief executive officer of the company by 2002, according to company documents.
Expectations are strong that Ruiz, a longtime Motorola Inc. executive who was named president and chief operating officer of AMD in January, will eventually take the top post at AMD, but his role as heir apparent became clearer when AMD filed its annual proxy statement on March 21. |
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The Register Files |
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Sledgehammer core could extend to all AMD chipsBy Mike Magee March 25, 2000 |
A student in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Colorado has written a preview of AMD's Sledgehammer which outlines its architecture and future, and poses intriguing questions on future directions in the x86 market.
Tom Kerrigan says that the available information on the 64-bit Sledgehammer, which AMD hopes to release next year, shows that the firm can manufacture these processors at approximately the same price as it does its current and future Athlon family. |
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Intel to buy into Taiwan RIMM firmBy Mike Magee March 25, 2000 |
Local Taiwanese sources said yesterday that chip firm Intel is set to take a $40 million share in a firm that makes connectors for Rambus inline memory modules
(RIMMs).
The reports suggest the money will be the first investment Intel has made in a components company. In the last 18 months, the Capital division of the Santa Clara firm has plunged billions of dollars into buying and investing in Internet infrastructure firms. |
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Morgan Stanley's vote for a $500 RambusBy Mike Magee March 26, 2000 |
Staff at The Register have now had a chance to view a Morgan Stanley Dean Witter report on Rambus which it issued on the 23rd of March last and which caused shares in the memtech company to rocket on Wall Street.
The report is interesting in many ways, not least because it says that its target share price for Rambus is $500 with a market capitalisation of $8.5 billion. |
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Today's Related Stories |
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Rambus asks ITC to bar Hitachi, Sega importsBy Yoshiko Hara March 24, 2000 |
Rambus Inc. said Thursday (March 23) it is asking the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to conduct an investigation about patent infringement by Hitachi Ltd., Hitachi Semiconductor (America) Inc., Sega Enterprises Ltd. and Sega of America, and to ban the import and sales of their products. Rambus is asking that Hitachi's SDRAM, double-date-rate SDRAM, and SH series microprocessors be banned, along with Sega's Dreamcast game console, which uses Hitachi's SH microprocessor. | |
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